Photo Credit: Andy Davies (10th February – Bristol Academy)
The DMA’s ten year anniversary tour of the Hills End album was the perfect opportunity for their Scottish fanbase to come out on this damp Monday night to help the band celebrate the occasion … and that we did big time! Tommy O’Dell (vocals), Matt Mason (guitar) and Johnny Took (rhythm guitar) are no strangers to Glasgow and have entertained large crowds more than a few times over recent years.
Sydney duo Salarymen are the support for the UK leg of the tour. They were a new name for us, we made sure to check out their tunes on the run up to the show, unfortunately that wasn’t the case for everyone though… the musical performance was a great fit for the DMA’s sound but the crowd were a massive let-down. Too much chatter amongst the crowd too during the set, another thing that makes our blood boil, we used to be proud to claim Glasgow as the city that had the wildest crowds. This is maybe a thing of the past now and cities such as Manchester and Liverpool have much livelier crowds from our experience! Although Salarymen are billed as a duo there are six musicians on the stage creating a very unique blend of sound, the first thing that struck me was how similar co-vocalist Renee de la Motte sounds to Saint Etienne singer Sarah Cracknell, a band that are actually touring again later in the year. We Could Be Together is played so well live by the Australian duo and is one of the highlights of the half hour set, Thom Eagleton and Renee de la Motte have an amazing collaborative stage presence and the way they switch vocalist so easily is one of the big attractions of the band. Thom comments that they have heard good things about a Glasgow crowd … as we would find out later. 8/10
The lights went down at 9pm and the old building that is now the O2 Academy is packed to the rafters. From the first song Timeless the crowd are right onside singing back every word alongside Tommy O’Dell, what a start to the set, the old building is electrified already and we are only one track in, this already feels like a special night. The two Glasgow shows are the last of the UK tour and the togetherness of the crowd tonight is special, there is a feeling of nostalgia in the air, we are delighted that they are playing the Hills End album in original track order making it easier for the fans to follow the flow of the music. The connection that the DMA’s have with their fans can be seen clearly tonight, the passion the crowd show towards the band is nothing short of extraordinary and it has been the same scenario all across the UK on this tour, proof of this is the fact that every single show was sold out months in advance. Australian bands definitely do things differently, we have been following and watching so many bands from down under in recent years and every one of them is so unique, we can now add DMA’s to that list.
Unusually we get to hear Lay Down twice on the nineteen track set, the first time around it is decent but when they play it again as the last song of the night it brings the house down, up in the balcony we are all on our feet screaming the lyrics of “Lay Down, give me something new” back to the stage and the band seem taken aback by this. Step Up The Morphine is a personal favourite from the Hills End album and it doesn’t let us down tonight, it is Johnny Took that steals the show during this one as Tommy O’Dell steps back allowing Johnny to showcase his guitar skills. There are now over two thousand people joining in with the D-D-DMA’s chants, it really is a goosebumps moment. As we mentioned earlier about the poor backing for Salarymen, this has now been turned on its head as the venue explodes into delight. The twelve songs from Hills End are over so quickly ending with The Switch and Play It Out.
The guitarist has a nice touch by leaving his guitar next to a speaker creating a reverberating feedback sound that lasts the full three minutes that the band are off the stage, they are soon back to play an encore … well more like a second set really as we still have seven more tunes to go and they are all bangers! Standouts for us were Silver and Hello Girlfriend taken from The Glow album and Olympia from How Many Dreams? Feels Like 37 and Lay Down end the perfect set. Ok there were a few that had to be missed out such as Everybody’s Saying Thursday’s The Weekend but nobody was complaining about that. We are sure that the following night – and the last night of the tour – the crowd would also have been right up for it, so where will DMA’s play next time they come to town? The OVO Hydro would be the perfect choice considering how big their fanbase has grown. 10/10
Written by: Alan Brown
